Lyfebulb MS Innovation Challenge

Summit, NJ
June 12 & 13, 2019

CHALLENGE TIMELINE

June 12, 2019
Introductory meetings and activities
June 13, 2019
Interactive workshop
June 13, 2019
Finalists presentations
June 13, 2019
Judges deliberation
June 13, 2019
Networking reception
June 13, 2019
Awards ceremony

The Winner

Leoplus USA

Kinza is a researcher, interaction designer and strategist based in New York. While working on projects centering user experience and digital products, it is the “how” and “why” of the problems that drive her creative thought process. She starts at the purpose of every interaction she is exploring which inspires her to keep finding challenges that people face in their day-to-day lives, in hopes of solving them through critical thinking, user research and human-centered design.

Kinza Kasher
User Experience Researcher & Product Designer at Leoplus USA

ABOUT THE SUMMIT AND AWARD

The Innovation Challenge will take place in June 2019 and will be open to Patient Entrepreneurs—those who have been affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) as either a patient, loved one or support partner—whose companies are helping develop solutions to address an unmet need in MS. The goal of the initiative is to seek new solutions, beyond therapy, to help address either challenges faced by people with MS in their daily lives or an unmet need that could potentially improve outcomes and experiences for both people with the disease and their support partners.

The Challenge took place in Summit, New Jersey where a panel of judges, including healthcare professionals, patients and patient advocates, business leaders and industry experts, awarded a $25,000 monetary grant to the most innovative, impactful business addressing an unmet need in MS.

Beyond presenting their innovative ventures to this group for a monetary grant, the finalists had the opportunity to exchange ideas on how to further advance patient innovation in the MS community; engage with Lyfebulb founders, representatives from the patient community, key opinion leaders and potential investors; and share insights with each other.

The Lyfebulb Innovation Challenge stems from the idea of the Lyfebulb Entrepreneur Circle, established in 2015, and features individuals who have created a product and a company based on issues encountered due to their personal experiences with a chronic illness (through their own diagnosis or that of a loved one).

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Honorable Mention

AXS LAB INC.

Jason DaSilva is a director, producer, writer and disability rights activist best known for the Emmy Award winning documentary, When I Walk, the first film in a documentary trilogy. The documentary follows his diagnosis of primary progressive multiple sclerosis for seven years as he progresses from cane, to walker, to wheelchair. Following the success of When I Walk, Jason released the second film in the trilogy, When We Walk. When We Walk follows his life as he deals with his MS and fights to stay close with his son. The film is based on his New York Times Op-Ed article, Mapping the Disability Trap. In 2019, the film premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival, won best documentary at the Center for Asian American Media’s CAAMFest, and had its New York debut at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The final film, When They Walk, is currently in production. Jason DaSilva is also the President and Founder of AXS Lab, a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving a voice to people with disabilities through film, media and technology. As the President of AXS Lab, Jason is the key creative and strategic voice of the organization, providing insight to necessities in disability activism and facilitating AXS Lab’s work with the United Nations and partner organizations around the world. AXS Map, a crowd sourced Google map based platform which rates the accessibility of businesses, is the primary technology branch of AXS Lab, the largest online database in North America for accessibility. In 2015, Jason had the opportunity to share his AXS Map on a disability panel at the White House. AXS Map serves as an active tool for change alongside his films. AXS Lab contributed to the United Nation’s Flagship Report on Disability and Development which was published in 2018. In 2014, Jason won three awards: the American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD) Paul G. Hearn Leadership Award, the New Mobility Magazine: Person of the Year Award, and the Christopher Award for Excellence in Film. In 2019 he was awarded the Top 40 Trailblazers Award from the Community Resource Exchange, an award for leaders who are driving meaningful change in their communities and the larger world, and the Made in New York recognition at the Gotham Awards.

Jason DaSilva
Founder and President

FINALISTS

JUDGES

Tim Coetzee, PhD

Chief advocacy, Services and Research officer at national multiple sclerosis society

Adam Fine

General partner and CEO at windham venture partners

Elizabeth Jones

MS Patient Ambassador Lyfebulb

Dr. Darin T. Okuda, M.D., MS, FAAN, FANA

Director at Neuroinnovation Program, Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunology Imaging Program, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Deneen Vojta, M.D.

Executive Vice President at Global Research & Development of UnitedHealth Group